US 7,519,327 · Granted 2009-04-14
The Patent Behind Your Workout's Real-Time Stats and Music
Imagine a device that watches how fast you're running, how far you've gone, and how many steps you're taking—all while blasting your favorite playlist. This patent covers the core idea: a gadget with motion sensors that calculates your athletic performance and feeds those numbers back to you on a screen or through sound, keeping you entertained and informed at the same time.
The plain-English version
What it protects
The claim covers a system that combines a motion sensor (like an accelerometer) with a performance calculation engine that translates raw motion data into athletic metrics such as speed, distance, and cadence. What's protected here is the specific combination of these components within an enclosure, plus the ability to output those metrics to a user via audio or visual displays. Someone copying this design—bundling motion sensing, performance math, and entertainment output into a single wearable or handheld device—would be infringing on the patent.
Why it matters
This patent, filed in 2006 and granted in 2009, was foundational to the modern fitness tracker and smartwatch ecosystem. By locking down the idea of merging real-time athletic monitoring with entertainment feedback in a single integrated device, it established a key design pattern that became standard across the industry. Companies building running watches, fitness bands, and performance monitors had to either license this technology or invent around it, making it a significant barrier to entry in the nascent wearables space.
Real-world use
Every time you glance at your Apple Watch or Fitbit to check your current pace and see how many miles you've run while your earbuds play music, you're using technology this patent helped protect.
Original USPTO abstract
A system and method are disclosed for monitoring the athletic performance of a user while also providing the user with entertainment such as an outputting of music. A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a housing component at least partially defining an enclosure. A performance engine may be located within the enclosure and may utilize a signal from a motion sensor to generate a performance metric like current speed, distance traveled, or cadence. The system may also include an audio and/or a visual output mechanism such as a speaker assembly or a display device. The output mechanism may be capable of presenting the performance metric to a user.
Patent details
- Publication number
- US 7,519,327
- Filing date
- 2006-04-07
- Grant date
- 2009-04-14
- Assignee
- Affinity Labs Of Texas, Llc
- Inventor(s)
- WHITE RUSSELL W.
- CPC class
- A63B24/0021
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